The present invention relates to a respirator mask which can be repeatedly fitted to different facial shapes.
In general, conventional respirator masks consist of a mask part which is placed over the nose and/or mouth of a patient to be supplied with air, a respirator tube for supplying respiration air and/or for carrying away exhaled air, and attachment means for attaching the respirator mask to a patient. The mask part itself has a relatively flexible edge area, which can be pressed by a corresponding contact pressure to the facial shape of a patient, and a center area, which is relatively stiff as compared to this edge area and at which, for example, the respirator tube as well as attachment straps are attached.
Conventional respirator masks of this kind have particularly the disadvantage that for achieving a good fit and for sealing the edge area of the mask at the face of a patient to be supplied with air, a relatively large contact pressure is required, and when wearing the mask the patient may possibly suffer from complaints such as headache, pain caused by pressure or wounds. A further disadvantage of the conventional respirator mask lies in the fact that it has to be manufactured from different materials so that, on the one hand, the supporting center area and, on the other hand, the flexible edge area can be realized. Moreover, it is difficult with conventional respirator masks to fit the mask to different head sizes because due to the stiff center area of the mask part a specific shape and size of the nose and/or mouth part is already given, so that the edge area possibly no longer fits completely to the face of the patient even when a considerable contact pressure is applied.
DE-A-195 48 380 relates to a respirator mask comprising an essentially shell-shaped, dimensionally stable base body on which a connection knee or element, a bracket with a spacing cushion and a connection mask are provided. The connection mask is the part of the respirator mask which comes in contact with the face of the patient. At least at the edge area of a breaking-through for the nose of a patient to be supplied with air, the connection mask is formed of a material which can be deformed plastically if a temperature higher than room temperature is applied and which is stiff at a lower temperature.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved respirator mask. This object is achieved with the features of the claims.
In achieving this object, the invention starts out from the basic idea that at least the edge area of the respirator mask, which can be placed over the nose and/or mouth of a patient, consists of a deformable material which is supported by a supporting structure (supporting frame or supporting element) which is stiff at normal ambient temperatures but can, however, be deformed plastically when the temperature increases. Thus, the shape relevant for fitting the respirator mask to the facial shape of the patient can be changed repeatedly at an increased temperature so that the respirator mask can be fitted to the different facial shapes of the patients.
It is particularly advantageous in the respirator mask of the present invention that the mask can repeatedly be deformed plastically to -fit it to different facial shapes, that the wearing comfort is increased, i.e. that an improved fit and, at the same time, a lower contact pressure is guaranteed, that the mask can alternatively consist of only one material for the entire mask base body or of different materials, e.g. for the center area and the edge area, and that it can be manufactured and disposed of at low cost.